Minnesota will travel to Piscataway, New Jersey and the Birthplace of College Football for a matchup with the Rutgers Scarlet Knights in week 11. Minnesota is in the midst of a five game win streak, their best since 2021-2022, while Rutgers has dropped their last four. The story of the week is the opportunities for “revenge” on both sides, as these two teams have a lot of player and coaching overlap. Kirk Ciarrocca and Joe Harasymiak, Rutgers OC and DC, both left Minnesota for Rutgers.
One of P.J Fleck’s mentors as he was first getting into coaching is Greg Schiano, Rutgers Head Coach. Although the one that all Gopher fans will be watching is former Gopher starting QB, Athan Kaliakmanis, take on his former team. Athan has improved the Rutgers passing attack in his first year as a Scarlet Knight, but has been inconsistent during their four game skid. Beside Athan is the Rutgers RB, Kyle Monangai, who is one of the best backs in the BIG10, if not the country. As for the defensive side of the ball, Rutgers has allowed 35+ points in each of their last three games, mostly due to the injuries they have sustained on that side of the ball. The availability report will tell an important story on if they were able to get some guys back on defense, as they are coming off of the bye. This matchup will have a lot of emotion behind it, so it will be critical that they stay composed if they would like to extend their winning streak and get bragging rights until their next matchup.
DO’s
Contain Kyle Monangai
One of the Gopher’s kryptonites this season has been allowing elite running backs to run wild. Omarion Hampton from UNC and Kaleb Johnson from Iowa both found a lot of success against a Gopher D that has a tendency to miss tackles, although in recent weeks it has improved. Therefore it will be critical that Minnesota is able to get numerous hats to the ball and crowd the box, in an effort to bring down Monangai, who is a yards after contact machine. If they are able to contain him, then it will force Rutgers to lean on Athan Kaliakmanis to move the ball.
Utilize last week’s offensive line
Tyler Cooper missed last week’s Illinois game, which caused some shuffling to happen across the O-Line. Ashton Beers moved to LG, Quinn Carroll shifted into RG, and Phillip Daniels got his first start at RT. This grouping was extremely efficient, as Darius Taylor II was able to have one of his best days of the season. Quinn Carroll looks much more comfortable at Guard, and that will likely be what he plays at the next level. Additionally, Phillip Daniels had a solid day for his first career start and getting him as much game time as possible will pay dividends in the next few years of development. If healthy, Minnesota should slide Cooper back into LG and roll with what worked so well last week. Especially as they will likely face a banged up D-Line and linebacking core from Rutgers. Which could allow for Darius to potentially have another big day.
DON’Ts
Let the foot off the pedal
Minnesota has thrown the ball 30+ times in each of their last three games. With Rutgers allowing so many points the last few weeks, Minnesota needs to continue to be aggressive through the air. Fleck has shown the tendency to revert to his old ways in past rivalry games, therefore bottling up against a susceptible defense is not something that can happen. Greg Harbaugh Jr. will need to find ways to get Taylor, Jackson, and Spencer the ball as much as possible to work to create explosive plays. This does not mean go full “air raid” offense, as keeping balance will be key, especially if Darius has success on the ground, but Minnesota should throw the ball 30+ times once again in this matchup.
Commit stupid penalties
As said before, this matchup has a lot of crossover, which can lead to players playing very emotionally. It will be key for players on both sides of the ball to not allow this emotion to get to their heads and play between whistles only. Although I do not believe there is any true animosity or hatred between these two programs, instead it is likely respect and urge to win bragging rights. There is still the potential for tempers to flare and mistakes to happen, but Minnesota cannot afford to derail drives or give Athan extra chances because they commit emotional penalties.
Score Prediction
Minnesota 33 – Rutgers 21
